The present invention relates to precedence group calling in a network. More specifically, the present invention provides a method and computer-readable medium for controlling group calling in a network, based upon a group call precedence order.
Wireless communications systems, such as cellular communication systems, typically provide interconnect and/or dispatch voice communication services. Interconnect voice communication services are those typically provided by most wireless carriers as circuit-switched communications. Dispatch communication services are commonly known as a push-to-talk (PTT) or walkie-talkie type of communication such as Sprint Nextel Corporation's service identified by the trade name Direct Connect. The popularity of dispatch calls is ever expanding and this increase in popularity has created a demand for more features for these types of calls.
Currently, dispatch communication services can provide private and group calls. A private dispatch call is between two parties, while a group dispatch call is between more than two parties, each of whom can converse with each of the other participants during the call. Group calls are becoming increasingly popular because they allow a subscriber to converse with numerous other subscribers in the same session. This provides particular utility in both business applications and for social communications. However, there are aspects in the way dispatch group calls are conducted today that may not be desirable in all circumstances.
One such aspect is that currently dispatch group calls are generally conducted between group members for groups that are pre-defined prior to the calls. For example, if a business person regularly needs to communicate with certain other people in the business, the person can define a group to include these other people. The business person must notify the network operator of the desire to create a group, and the network operator provisions a single group identifier in the network. Once the group identifier is provisioned, the single group identifier can be used to initiate the call and all members defined as part of the group are automatically connected into the group call if they are available, e.g., their phone is turned on and they are not utilizing the phone to communicate with someone else. Therefore, in a group call with a pre-defined group, while having significant utility, the group must be defined prior to the call and provisioned by the network operator, thus, reducing some of the flexibility for defining the group that may be desired in certain circumstances.
Another current method of establishing a group call that may have potential drawbacks in particular circumstances is to dynamically establish the group for the call. In this method, the group is not required to be pre-defined, as discussed above, but rather, the group members are selected by the initiator of the group call in conjunction with establishing the group call. This methodology may be referred to as a selective dynamic group call, because the group members are selectively defined by the call initiator and also are dynamically defined, i.e., not pre-defined.
Selective Dynamic Group Call (SDGC) is a dispatch call type that allows an originator of a group call to select individual targets to include in the group call. After the originator selects the targets for the call, the dispatch station requests a dedicated control channel (DCCH) to send the call request and the list of targets to a dispatch processor, e.g., a dispatch application processor (DAP). The DCCH is dynamically converted to a traffic channel (TCH) for the purpose of an SDGC call.
The dispatch processor will validate the request and partially validate the targets. Also, the dispatch processor will locate the serving dispatch processor of each of the targets, although the location of the serving dispatch processor of each target is not required in order to start paging. Each target will be individually paged. For targets whose information resides in a Dispatch Visitor Location Register (D-VLR), the dispatch processor will page those individuals. For targets served by other local dispatch processors, the dispatch processor will reserve resources for those targets and page them. For targets served by dispatch processors in other Urban Areas, the originator's dispatch processor (the Master Controlling dispatch processor (MC-DAP)) will select a single dispatch processor in each target Urban Area (the Slave Controlling dispatch processor (SC-DAP)) to control the call in that Urban Area. The MC-DAP will send the targets' information and their serving dispatch processor information to the SC-DAPs. The SC-DAPs will reserve resources for the targets from the serving dispatch processors in the target Urban Area (as necessary) and then page those targets. The SDGC call will be started when the MC-DAP receives the first page response from any of the targets.
Whereas the selective dynamic group call can provide further flexibility over the pre-defined group call, this type of group call may also have limitations in certain circumstances. With both the pre-defined group call and the selective dynamic group call, members of the called group, if they are available for the group call, are automatically included as participants in the group call. Since they are members of the group, when the group call is initiated, they receive the dispatch audio communication from the group call initiator (commonly referred to as “forced-audio”). In selective dynamic group calls, however, if a member of a called group is already on a first group call when a second group call is received, the member might not become part of the second group call. This may be particularly problematic for emergency and public safety personnel, due to the urgency of their calls.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an improved multi-party dispatch call capability. The improved capability could provide for a precedence order to allow a member of a current group call to automatically become a member of a new group call having a higher precedence than the current group call.